Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-10-06
HISTORIC CHARACTER
Interesting "reminiscences in the Life
of Benjamin Lundy.


of Benjamin Lundy.
P. B. o., special correspondent of
the Ohio State Journal. at Wilmington,
TO-, writes, under date of Sept. 26, enter
Itainingly of Benjamin Lundy, one of the
earliest and most distinguished anti
slavery advocates, thus:
We have noticed frequently of late
correspondents, through the State Jourt
nal and other papers, sketching notable
men of the bygones of Belmont county,
this state. They speak of Thomas II.
Genin as an eccentric millionaire. We
doubt if Ohio contained millionaire in
IGenin's day. He was intellectual, it
is true, as is evidenced by an anti-slsv-
cry speech be delivered the 4th of July,
1878, in that county, that was printed
in Charles Osborn's Philanthropist,
which was published in Mt. Pleasant
at that time. The speech filed eighteen
columns of the paper and run through
five or six numbers. 1t was most rad
Iical and there has been out little new
said on the subject sInae. 1t was lit.
tie fiorid, but the heiDuus crime of sla'
very would bear much of it. l learn
from tradition that The speech was pre-
pared by Jeunin and Osborne for the
purpose of furnishing anti-slavery read
ing for the Philanthropist. We imagine
that the eccentric illusions are mythic
al and that they come down through the
descendants of pro-slavery sires, who
have not investigated closely. We have
no recollection in our young days Of
hearing father Charles Osborn) or any
of our numerous, much older balf-brotb-
ers speak of his excentricities or his
great wealth.
But why do the correspondents fail to
catch onto the most historical character
who lived in St. Clairsville in early
times. 1t was none other than Benja-
min Lundy. He was then young. but
be wrote his celebrated appeal" while
a resident of Belmont county in the au
tumn of 1915, when the Quaker yearly
meeting was in session at Mt. Pleasant,
Jefferson county. Charles Osborn, the
organizer of the Tennessee Maner Mis-
sion society in the fall of 1914 and a
minister of the Society of Friends, was
attending the yearly meeting. lie was
shown young Lundy's appeal. He ask
ed Lundy if he would be willing for
the meeting to publish it as an anti
slavery document.
With his signature attached, Lundy
was modest and refused to allow his
name TO be signed. A committee of six,
at the suggestion of Osborn, was then
chosen to examine the manuscript and
prepare it for publication. 1t was soon
after printed. without signature, and
published, at that yearly meetings sayso
on slavery. Lundy says it was almost
his first effort at writing, and he was
too modest to allow it to go to the
world over his signature. In writing
of it several years afterward. he said he
had outgrown such modesty.
The Philanthropist printing press was
bought of the Kite publishing-house
Philadelphia. After it was purchased
it required six months,or more, to haul"
it over the mountains and get it ready
for work Two of Kites sons accom-
panied the press, set it up, and acted in
the capacity of pressmen during the
time it was owned by Osborn, which
was near eighteen months. The pros>
pectus for the paper was printed in 1916,
but seems to have been lost.
Isaiah Osborn, one of Charles Osborn's
eldest sons, then in MS teens, was a
"devil' under the Kites and learned
much. His services were soon in de-
mand After his father sold his outfit
to Elisha Bates and Lundy commenced
the publication of his celebrated "Gen-
ius of Universal Emancipation" in East
Tennessee he employed young Osborn
to set the type. He was thus engaged
for two years at 800 per year. Lundy
paid him near 800 and gave notes for
the balance, which were never paid and
are still in the possession of the family,
some of whom are living on the farm
in Wayne county, Ind, that was "en+
tered" with the 500 paid by Lundy.
The widow of Isaiah Osborn is still
living with her children, in Indiana.
She is so years old and is in full posses
sion of her mental faculties. She was a
sister of the Rev. Daniel Worth. who
was an anti slavery lecturer and proach-
er for many years before the war. ln
the fifties be tried the experiment of
going into North Carolina, his native
state, and endeavoring to preach the
gospel of human freedom in the midst
of slavery. He was uDmolested for a
season. He became bolder and began,
rather secretly, to sell Helpers book-a
terrific onslar ut on the divine institu-
ton, by cold ngures. 1t was discovered
and he was soon arrested and "cast into
prison" where he was closely confined
for months. He was finally released,
but bis brutal imprisonment in bis ad
vancing years so impaired his health
that he soon died. Such was slavery in
ante bellum days and similar were An
Jacksonville and Libby prisons during the
war, that we are now very humbly re-
quested to forget, as also to forgive.
We can assure all concerned that it has
been forgiven, but can not be forgotten